This AM, a freight train (probably B725 from Attleboro to Framingham) became disabled in Framingham station on track 2 right around 8 AM.

That left P510 stuck west of Framingham and unable to go anywhere since B725 was probably fouling everything since it would have been crossing track 1 to go up into Nevins Yard.

So they (dispatchers? "Boston Chief"?) took the P587/P586 equipment and renamed it P510 and sent it east from Framingham somewhat close to the P510 departure time. Once the original P510 equipment could proceed into Framingham, it entered on track 2 and was renamed P586, even though it already had all the P510 passengers from Worcester (to Ashland) on it. A track change announcement was sent out about the fact that P586 would board on Track 2 instead of its usual track 1. The new P586 using the original P510 equipment departed Framingham at about 8:45 and arrived in Boston about 9:40.

Tweets from passengers indicate that the P510-P586 switched equipment stayed in Framingham station for at least 10-15 minutes - around 8:30 AM to 8:45 AM. This appears to be for potentially two reasons: 1) Allow the P552 #HeartToHub to pass / leapfrog around it (which happened when P552 got to Framingham at 8:40 AM - a little later than its usual time of 8:30 AM)2) Hold the old P510 equipment long enough so it wouldn't leave AHEAD of its new P586 scheduled departure time of 8:40 AM.

The P510 that originated in Framingham using the P587/P586 equipment was also held at CP 4 to allow the #HeartToHub to leapfrog around it. That appears to have been a minor delay.

Normally there are no leapfrogs needed on the schedule.

Not sure I can endorse this creative schedule maneuvering. The passengers on P510 between Worcester & Ashland definitely got the worst of this - a 40 minute delay. They still would have had a delay due to the disabled freight train, but it might have only been 10-20 minutes had they been allowed to 'remain' operating as P510. Leapfrogging P552 seems to be particularly unfair, since that train probably had a fraction of the passengers that P510 (or P586) had on it.

I also have to admit that it is sometimes unfair to be a Monday morning quarterback for these types of dynamic situations. It's possible they didn't know how long the freight train would be disabled and they made the best decisions possible given the information they had. At least they tried to do something creative.

More troublesome for you data nerds is how this will show up in the data metrics. Since they juggled some equipment names around, the data MIGHT reflect that everything arrived in Boston with a less than 5 minute delay. I'm not sure if they will use this manipulation of the data, but I hope not, since the P510 passengers between Worcester and Ashland were about 40 minutes late. If the data collection is automated there may be no way to manually correct it (or nobody may go in and do it).

I took some time to talk to some of the Keolis managers at the South Station "Ask the Managers" event on Tuesday night. Say what you want about Keolis, but at least they're willing to meet with us face-to-face. Here are some interesting nuggets I gathered in my conversation. These notes are MY interpretation of the conversation and I could have easily misunderstood something. Any errors are mine.

1) Short sets / coach shortages: The manager I spoke with claimed their full complement is 359 coaches in service. Their interim goal from the shortages this summer was to have 344 in service as of Labor Day, which is a metric he claimed they met. The next goal is to have 350 in service by Monday 9/14. These numbers are slightly different than those reported on the NE Transit inventory page. The manager acknowledged that 4-coach sets will still be in service on some trips until they can reach the full complement of coaches. We didn't have any more detailed discussion about the causes or long-term outlook.

2) Have you ever noticed the small section of rails that have been removed from the track just adjacent to the single track through the Beacon Park railyard? You can actually see the missing rail on Google Maps. The manager explained that those rails were removed because they matched a type of rail needed for a repair on the Fitchburg main line. The rail was removed from the Beacon Park yard since it was not needed there. If you didn't know, there are a variety of rail types.

3) Natick Center flooding: An upcoming replacement of the rail at CP 21 (the set of switches just east of Framingham station) will require taking one of the tracks out of service from Weston to Framingham. While they are doing that rail replacement project, the manager stated that they plan on upgrading one of the stormwater pipes at Natick Center from 16" to 24" diameter in an effort to further mitigate the flooding there (the capacity of a 24" pipe is more than twice that of a 16" pipe). And why is track 2 lower than track 1 through Natick Center? Since the Framingham-Worcester line is still rated for freight service, track 2 is kept at that elevation to allow for higher freight trains to pass under the bridges in that area.

4) Speaking of freight trains, the manager claims that approximately once a month, CSX moves wide load freight trains from Worcester to Framingham. This requires Keolis to 'drop' the removable high level platforms from the 'mini-high' platforms at Worcester, Grafton, Westborough, Southborough, and Ashland. Once in Framingham, the freight trains can be routed into the freight yards (bypassing the actual Framingham station) and then usually go north or south from Framingham (not east past the West Natick station). I always knew why those platforms were removable, but I had no idea that wide loads were so frequently moved across the line. You may also notice that the Yawkey station was constructed with full length permanent high level platforms. This will prevent wide load freight trains from moving past Yawkey - and the removal of 'freight rights' over that section of track was part of the Yawkey station project. What's a wide load on a freight train? There are lots, like these planes that get moved across the western US (unless they fall into a river), but we're more likely to see electrical transformers.

5) Heat restrictions: The manager confirmed what I have previously reported: that track 2 from Worcester to Framingham is not scheduled for repairs / rail replacement at this time. Unless something changes, and that work is funded and released before next summer, heat restrictions will affect that section of track next summer (and into the future). This confirms my table of heat restriction effects in the most recent post below.

Early Friday morning, the Keolis crew in Worcester discovered a problem with one of the layover sets. A replacement train set was dispatched from Boston to replace the broken down set. While the 'extra' was outbound to Worcester, the original set that was thought to be broken was either fixed or made operational. It was used as the equipment for P506 and departed Worcester on time. Therefore the 'extra' from Boston was not needed and it went back inbound to Boston as a non-revenue 'extra' move.

By Framingham, the 'extra' was operating just ahead of P508 - confusing passengers waiting for P508 when it didn't stop. It then passed P506 near West Newton. Good job Keolis fitting this extra inbound move without delaying the normal schedule!

This also could explain why B725 went through Framingham early. B725 is a CSX freight train from Attleboro to Framingham - passes through Medfield and Sherborn before crossing Route 135 in Framingham near the old Chicken Bone restaurant. From there, after joining the mainline Framingham Worcester tracks, it just goes west over Route 126 and into the freight yard between Winter Street and Fountain Street in Framingham ("Nevins Yard"). [The freight cars then eventually go west to Selkirk NY (near Albany) on a different manifest train (Q437) with different engines, but now I'm just getting carried away.]

Usually, B725 is held south of Blandin Avenue (so it doesn't block that crossing) until after P506 departs Framingham. Then the dispatcher gives it clearance and it moves up and across both Route 135 and the mainline track 2 - and travels west on track 1 through Framingham station. This timing allows it to move through without affecting commuter rail trains - it is in Framingham between P506 and P508 and clears off of track 1 before outbound P505 arrives in Framingham at 7:44 AM.

But on Friday 5/29, B725 made its move through Framingham AHEAD of P506, which I thought was odd. But in the context of the 'extra' story, it makes sense - they needed to get B725 out of the way so they could use the 'gap' time between P506 and P508 to move the 'extra' through Framingham inbound. It's fun to reverse engineer the dispatch decisions!

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As of late October 2017, the author is an MBTA employee. Blog posts prior to that time were created when I was NOT affiliated with the MBTA nor Keolis and therefore were my own opinion. Blog posts after October 2017 are my own personal statements and do not represent any official position or opinion of the MBTA and should not be construed as having been endorsed by the MBTA.